How Cristin Milioti Found Out The Mother's Fate on How I Met Your Mother

It's been nearly four months since How I Met Your Mother aired its series finale, and the episode continues to divide fans between satisfied and completely enraged.

[WARNING: MAJOR HIMYM SERIES FINALE SPOILERS BELOW] 

The finale showed us that The Mother, named Tracy McConnell (Cristin Milioti), actually passed away 10 years or so after she and Ted (Josh Radnor) meet and fall in love. As Ted finished his nine-season story to his children, they realize he's still has feelings for Robin (Cobie Smulders) and encourage him to go after her. And he does just that by holding the blue French horn outside her apartment window as the series ends.

Fans found out this news in the series finale, but how did Milioti learn of her character's fate? At a Christmas party!

"I didn't know from the beginning. I had no idea," Milioti said at the Television Critics Association press tour while promoting her new romantic comedy A to Z on NBC. But series co-creator Craig Thomas spilled the beans to the lovely and charming actress over a few drinks at the Christmas party last year.

"Craig was talking to me and we both had a couple of drinks," she said., according to E! Online. "And he gets very giddy and happy when he's had a few, and he was like, 'Do you want to know how it ends?' And as a complete joke, I said, 'What, do I die?' And he was like, 'Do you want to know?' And I said, 'Yeah, I do.' And he told me."

So what was her reaction?

"I sat there sobbing," Milioti said. "He wrote me an e-mail the next day being like, 'I'm so sorry I told you that way. You seemed really upset.'"

Fans, too, were upset and the reaction on social media was largely negative. Milioti, who said she is considering joining Instagram, didn't see any of it.

"I'm not on any social media, so I didn't feel the full brunt of it," she said. But she did suspect the finale would polarize fans. "I think that's a testament to the show, that it was divisive because people were super invested and I know that while we were filming it, I had a sense that it might be very divided," she said. "Because of course there are people that are always going to think Ted and Robin should be together and others that didn't."

Regardless of the reaction, Milioti said her experience on the show was nothing but positive. "I was so warmly welcomed on How I Met Your Mother that it felt like I had been there much longer than I actually was," said the actress, who joined the show in the Season 8 finale. "I was crying just as hard as everyone on the last day, which is a testament to those people."

What are your thoughts on the HIMYM finale four months later? Let us know in the comments below.